Melbourne Update

I just thought I'd update you on my latest movements since arriving in Melbourne. Ok, so there's not actually much to update you on, but for the benefit of those who aren't on/don't check Facebook I thought I'd at least let you know I'm alive!

I'm still job hunting and sort of looking for somewhere a bit more permanent to live rather than the hostel. However, I don't want to do move anywhere until I have a job lined up, and right now there doesn't appear to be too much. Having thought I'd give anything a go, I've changed my mind since arriving here and really don't fancy working in a restaurant or similar in this heat. Which is just as well, as I hear the work is slim at the moment. It reached 44 Degrees C in Melbourne yesterday. Sadly the office jobs seem few and far between too, although I have applied for one (missed the closing date, but at least I was actually pro-active)!

So I have mainly been spending my time conserving energy and money, wandering around Melbourne and meeting many an interesting character! I get the impression I'm not staying in the nicest part of Melbourne and I feel like a snob for saying it but I've turned into a whimp in my old age. I don't mind during the day but it is limiting my night-life as I deliberately don't go out late on my own.

Today I am taking the day to scout agencies (if I can actually find one with any jobs going - looked at 7 so far and nothing, literally no jobs, let alone anything I'd be interested in), catch up with my blog and post some pictures (still not up to date there sorry!). If you're interested, here are all my pictures currently on Facebook. I'm afraid I can't remember what I have or haven't posted so apologies if I'm repeating myself:

Album 2: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=137816&id=669980946&l=602e2911a5

Album 3: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=138048&id=669980946&l=6a3d58f64b

Album 4: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=140716&id=669980946&l=826bfcede6

Album 5: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=145735&id=669980946&l=c423c3653e

Album 6: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=146181&id=669980946&l=ec07a3634c

Album 7: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=146189&id=669980946&l=4fd699c111

Generally I've been quite quiet as the people I have met have been couples or travelling in pairs, but I am currently sharing a room with an Australian lady called Karen and we are going to the cinema tomorrow - we know how to live! She lives in Darwin and even she thinks it's too hot at the moment, so we were planning on making the most of the air con in the cinema!

The hostel has been pretty busy this week too, it appears to have been overtaken by a bunch of girl guides or scouts. The worst thing is, they're all British! I didn't realise they did such exciting things as travelling Australia in such organisations - shouldn't they be at school? Anyhow, it's meant that socialising isn't very practical right now!

Right then, I think that's all I can update you on right now, unless you want to know exact details of every tram ride I've taken! Sorry it's got a bit more boring of late, but all play and no work makes Hannah a very poor girl!

Speak soon

Love, Peace & Jelly Babies (just for you Claire)

Hannah

xXx

Melbourne Moments

So here I am in Melbourne. What have I been up to? Not a lot if I'm honest! When I first got here I was a little homesick, but I pretty much got over that after my first night alone. I've moved into a smaller hostel which has 2-share rooms, so I only have to share with one other person. I figured I'd be more likely to meet other lone travellers that way, and sure enough, along came Nina but not until after a night on my own.

Nina is from Croydon and was lovely. She's just done a tour of Australia and has now left to do a tour of New Zealand. She had a friend over here, Nicky, who has looked after us brilliantly the last few days, taking us out to all the best places for dinner and making sure we didn't get lost! Ok, so we only went out 2 nights, but prior to that I had been too scared to leave the hostel at night! More on that later...

The hostel is a little further out of town but still accessible by tram. It's North Melbourne and I've met some slightly interesting & scary characters on the trams, so I wasn't convinced about the area! The great thing about Melbourne is how easy it is to get literally everywhere. You're rarely far from a tram and the tram network is excellent. Melbourne city (and much of the surrounds I believe) is set up in blocks, so it's perfect for someone like me who easily gets lost. Perhaps this is why I liked it so much the first time round!

I have a hopeless sense of direction on foot, and I've discovered it's only got worse since I've been left to my own devices. I thought I was doing really well when I got off the tram at Bourke Street (one of the major shopping areas) with the intention of getting a connecting tram to St Kilda, where I stayed a few weeks ago. The problem was, I headed the wrong way up the road and ended up going round in a big circle (or block)! So I gave up on St Kilda for the day and headed for the shops instead. Didn't buy anything, just had a look around at prospective office clothes and jeans. Turns out, with all the shops it has, Melbourne is rubbish for shopping! I remember it being excellent last time, but I must've had more money to spare!

The fashions have all changed (oh my, I'm so old) so any cheaper shops had nothing I liked, and anything I liked cost a pretty dollar or two hundred. Grr! I really needed new jeans, but they're impossible to get over here as they don't seem to have long/short/standard leg lengths, just extra long. So you spend lots on your clothes, and then you spend lots getting them adjusted to fit! Either that or apparently everyone is a size 6 and 7 ft tall - I've not seen anyone like this, but it appears that's who the jeans are made for!

After my unsuccessful shopping trip, I headed back to the hostel for the evening. Because of the interesting characters, and the location, I didn't like to go out at night on my own. Plus, while I've been here someone has had their car broken into, so that has put me on edge a little. But the news is full of that kind of thing here, so I'm not too worried now.

The next day, Nina & I decided to go and do something. We headed to St Kilda to see if we could spot any Neighbours celebrities as that seems to be where everyone hangs out. No such luck, we saw no one famous. Booo! So we went for a walk along the beachfront and pier instead, before heading for a typical Melbourne-oversized snack.

In the evening we met Nicky and an old school friend of Nina's, Anna, who she hadn't seen since school (she's my age). So that was great and another small-world coincidence as Nina hadn't known that Anna was in Melbourne until she arrived. We went to the trendy suburb of Fitzroy (I can't remember the street, but I think it may've been Brunswick St).

The next day was a very relaxing day, sorting out washing and doing some food shopping, as well as looking for possible work (no luck - nothing appealed) before heading out in the evening for Nina's last night in Melbourne. This time we went to Chapple Street (not sure if I've spelt it right, but it's another trendy area in Melbourne). We then had to go get coffee to warm up as it was so cold... I feel for you people back home! We don't have a hint of snow but the evenings can get a bit chilly. The weather can get a bit warm in the day though so I guess it's a trade off.

Anyhow, after we'd said our goodbyes to Nicky, we headed back to the hostel for an early night as Nina had to be at the airport by about 5.30am. Nina has now left for New Zealand and as yet, I've not had a new roomie. I thought I was going to have to move hostels as this one was fully booked for the weekend, so I spent the day yesterday looking for an alternative, but nothing appealed. Fortunately today they've had a cancellation so I'm able to stay a few more days at least.

I have now found a pair of jeans (expensive and way too long, but all I could find!). However, I've held off buying the work clothes as I think I've finally made up my mind that I'm a born traveller, not worker! The idea of working here now and settling down in one place without any friends or family around has lost its appeal, so plan changes are afoot... watch this space!

For now, take care y'all.

xXx

The Departure

New Year's Day had finally come, and sadly Chris had not received the call from Singapore Air to say that he would be getting a later flight. So we packed up our things and checked me into the hotel I was due to stay in alone on that night. It was nothing compared to where we'd been and I was devastated to be leaving behind the 4* hotel, and the prospect of leaving Chris later that day didn't help either. If I'm honest, the hotel actually filled me with dread as it seemed very out of the way and I was very high up. For the first time since I'd been here, I suddenly wished I could be going home too and not just because Chris was leaving.

We headed to the airport so Chris could board his flight, but got there a little bit too early to check in! We found various shops and coffee bars to occupy ourselves and then eventually were allowed to check in. When we got to the desk, it turned out the flight was fully booked and they were looking for volunteers to take the next one. Needless to say, Chris volunteered. Unfortunately, you still have to wait right up until boarding to see if you're needed or not. However, Singapore Air were very accommodating and gave us a $20 voucher towards food while we waited.

We chose to go to a Japanese chain restaurant (Wagamamas) and were shocked when a fight broke out in the kitchen between the chef and one of the waiters who promptly ran off! Typically I tried my best to ignore it. I don't know what had happened, but it turned into a police matter when the chef was later questioned. Initally it all seemed very amicable, but then the next thing I know the guy is being held up against the wall and searched! When I paid for the meal, the waiter who was left behind to deal with the mess apologised for all the problems. I felt really sorry for him - it turns out he'd been working til 2am the previous morning, and started work again at 12 this day so it had been a long enough shift without that happening. I never did find out what happened, but it all made for a very exciting few hours in Sydney airport!

Crunch time came and we went over to find out whether Chris had been sucessful in delaying his departure or not. Woo hoo! He had! I was soooo happy. Even more so because it turns out, the airline paid him compensation, gave him a gift voucher for his plane journey the next day and even paid for accomodation in Sydney for one further night. Although I thought this was a great deal, one of the passengers had not volunteered but was still unable to get on the flight, and he was very irate. I guess it must be very frustrating if you need to get on a flight and physically can't. Another exciting exhibit in the airport!

We tried to explain that I'd already had accommodation booked that we could use but they were having none of it and booked Chris into a new hotel. We explained that we'd hoped we could stay in the same place and the lady told me that we were, and if the hotel had a problem with it to call Singapore air! So that's what we did, we got to another hotel which was the same chain as the Menzies but closer to the airport. It was another luxurious place. We then headed back to the previous hotel we'd booked, collected my luggage and checked ourselves out, much to my relief. How was I ever going to go back to budget accommodation after these hotels though??

Unfortunately, Chris' flight the next day was ridiculously early, so it only meant a few more hours and we were a bit confined to the hotel but that was ok - as well as paying for our accommodation, they also paid for us both to have dinner there. I thought this was excellent service considering that they didn't actually owe me anything, just Chris! The lady was very encouraging about all our travelling plans and told me that I should do it now while I'm young and able to enjoy it. It was like she was our mum giving us pearls of wisdom!

The next day, the inevitable happened and Chris departed for the UK. I got myself on a flight to Melbourne to start the next part of my adventure. It was really difficult saying goodbye to Chris but it's been a great holiday we've had, despite all our ailments (Chris' earaches and I've been ill this whole holiday, but I won't go into details on the world wide web)!

I arrived at Sydney Domestic Airport to discover that it was manically busy with people. This is definitely the busiest time of year to fly. When Chris originally called to try and extend his flight to 2nd January, he was told the first available flight wasn't until 8th January. Crazy!

Anyhow, I eventually got through the queues and still had a while to wait until my flight. I sat with another cup of coffee & watched the planes. So far, I think this country has now got me addicted to coffee, travelling and quality accommodation, doh!

I boarded my plane for the next stage of my adventure in Melbourne. It was a lovely sunny day in Sydney, and I was a bit miffed with the airline when they told us "sorry, it's not this warm in Melbourne"! Can't say they're not honest I guess!

Sydney Special - NYE

After returning from our day trip, we had to head out quite quickly for our New Year's party with Lindsay & Lizette. We were going to a house party of some friend of theirs, which was very hospitable of them. We grabbed a quick bite to eat on the way (Subway, without the full range of bread - boo) and then headed off to meet Lindsay & Lizette. That wasn't without its problems though. We'd arranged to meet them the other side of a foot bridge. We'd bought our hosts an alcoholic gift, and ourselves an alcoholic beveredge to see in the new year. Only, we weren't allowed to cross the bridge on foot with alcohol in our bags. We were told we'd need to get a monorail or taxi, but when we asked for directions to the nearest monorail station the guy was very unhepful and just told us to follow the track. We didn't have time for that so we jumped in a taxi and eventually managed to get to Lindsay's car!

New Year was amazing, I was so glad we had this party to go to. It was very civilised (the hosts are expecting their first child at the end of January). They live in an apartment near Darling Harbour, and their balcony had a pretty good view of the bridge (thankfully the weather had cleared up by then).

I have learnt that NYE isn't as big in Sydney as New Year's Day is. Even those who were drinking didn't overdo it because they had booked into a boat cruise the next day. We saw all the fireworks, although the bridge got a bit covered because of all the smoke created. It was a great atmosphere though. And, there were two sets of fireworks, one at 9pm for the kids, and then the proper ones at 12, plus a token explosion of fireworks every hour leading up to midnight. Interesting countdown, but couldn't help wonder if it was a bit wasteful with the money!?

After the clock struck 12, we hung around for a bit longer and then reasonable early we all headed our seperate ways. Chris & I attempted to return to the hotel after being dropped off in the city. It was at this point that I was very grateful we'd had this house party to go to - the streets were lined with drunken people & police (the police weren't drunk... I don't think) and it was generally manic. I'm sure it would've been a great atmosphere if I'd been a little bit younger, but this holiday has certainly made me realise how much older I've gotten over the last 4 years. I think if I'd had to spend New Year's with all those people, my illusions of Sydney at new year would've been shattered.

As far as location goes, this was probably one of the best. Close enough to see the bridge, not so close that I had to cover my ears from the fireworks. Our hosts were also great company, however I definitely miss a traditional new year with good friends.

Happy New Year to all my old friends, to any new friends, and to anyone else who may be reading this. I hope 2010 is a good one for you!

Take care

xXx

Sydney Seconds - the Caves

New Year's Eve had come round (very quickly, I might add), and it was our last full day in Sydney.

We were met at 7am in the morning by our driver, John, who originated from Tavistock & although he'd been living in Australia for the last 20+ years, he didn't appear to have lost much of his accent. The trip was mainly focussed on the caves, however it took us via the Blue Mountains for the first part - something I attempted to see with Louisa last time. As I've made my way around Australia, I have been much more aware of how aptly they name things. There will often be a Latin name and an Australian name. The Australian name will always just be telling it as it is. Let me give you an example. In the Great Barrier Reef are many types of stunning coral. One of the types I saw is called Acropora Cervicornis, and basically looks like lots of deer antlers. The Australian name? Staghorn coral. Exactly what it looks like.

The Blue Mountains are kind of similar. They are a set of mountains that are covered with various Eucalyptus trees. These give off a vapour which looks blue in certain light. That light tends to be when it's a sunny clear day from what I can tell. When Louisa & I went last time, it was not one of those days and was quite overcast. So we didn't see the blue-ness of the mountains. We also didn't see the rock formation called the 3 sisters.

So I was hopeful that this trip would allow us to be more successful in our viewing of the mountains & the rocks. However, whilst waiting for the bus we had to run in and get our emergency poncho's because it was raining. We then knew that we may be unsuccessful but we weren't phased - the main point of our trip was to see the Jenolan caves and hopefully any weather conditions would be ok there!

As expected, we arrived to overcast skies at the Blue Mountains scenic world. We took the scenic train down to the rain forest. The visibility was so poor that you could hardly call it scenic, and it was really raining so I was very glad this wasn't the main point of our trip. We attempted to get the skyride back up the mountains which should've given us views of the 3 sisters, but again, the visibility was awful. So much so that we actually couldn't see the skyrail car until it was metres in front of us. Before that it was just the beginning of a cable that appeared to be going up into the sky into nowhere.

Anyhow, the weather wasn't going to affect our mood for our last day, and we had the caves to look forward to which would be sheltered from the elements. These caves were recommended to us by Teena's brother and I was so glad we went. First of all, you have to drive through a cave to get to the caves, which was exciting in itself. They are apparently the oldest discovered caves (not necessarily the first discovered, but the oldest in age from all those that have been discovered). I can quite believe it. I've been to caves in the UK before, but these were massive.

There was such a big network and several tours we could've done. The rock formations inside were amazing, lots of different stories behind everything. Apparently a woman discovered the caves unofficially before they were officially discovered, but because she was a woman and shouldn't have been down caves at that time, they didn't give her any recognition!

In the cave we went in there was a small stream at the bottom. Our tour guide told us that if we dropped anything in there he wouldn't be going in after it for us as it was only 12 degrees down there... 12 degrees? If the water was that warm in England I'd be swimming in it!

By the time we came out it had started to rain but the skies were clearing up. I had to sleep on the mini bus to stop myself from being ill, but on the way back we stopped at a view point and everything had cleared up so much that you wouldn't have known it was the same day that we could see nothing in the morning. We even clearly saw the 3 sisters! I didn't see the full blue-ness of the mountains (I was probably asleep at that point), but I'd got glimpses and it's always good to have a reason to return.

As it was New Year, the roads were being closed in Central Sydney - one small downside to having our hotel so smack bang in the middle of the city. It meant that we couldn't get dropped off right outside our hotel, but we were close enough.

Next stop, New Year's Eve in Sydney...

Sydney Starters

After Port Douglas, we drove our car for the final time back to the airport to drop off our car and board our plane to Sydney where we would be spending New Year's. When we picked up the car, it had 4225Ks on the clock. When we dropped it off, it had 9683. Our journey had taken us well over 5,000 kilometres on the road and we had seen some amazing sights.

Chris had decided that he loved the trip so much he would see if he could extend it by a day, and got put on a waiting list for a flight on 2nd instead of 1st January. We phoned up the hotel that we were due to be staying at (the Menzies in Sydney), and were astonished to discover that it would now cost us over $700. That's around £400 for one night! So we ditched that and booked into a cheaper alternative instead. The Menzies cost me just over £600 for the 3 nights when I booked it back in June - so maybe it does pay to be organised!

Our final leg of the journey was to be spent in Sydney for New Year's. You can't spend New Year in Australia and not go to Sydney. We had been very fortunate when we were in Sydney last time as we'd met up with Chris' old school mate Lindsay & his girlfriend, Lizette. When I say old school mate, Lindsay's not old, but they hadn't seen each other since they were about 11 I think. They were kind enough to invite us to a houseparty that they were going to for New Year's which had a view over the city and could see most of the Harbour bridge.

When we reached Sydney, we got on a train to our hotel and were shocked to discover that the hotel that I'd booked was actually a 4 star complex. The room was massive with two Queen-sized beds & ensuite bathroom. It was such luxury and right in the centre of everything. It was a brilliant way to end our time together & I had obviously been very lucky to get it for the price I did!

We headed into the city for a view of the bridge & opera house, and then went and looked around the Harbour and paid a visit to the Aquarium. Supposedly the aquarium had rare duck billed platypus. I didn't see any. I did see a rather fake looking crocodile though - it seriously looked like a giant rubber crocodile or something, but then it blinked. I still wasn't convinced, but then it creepily slid into the water, still with its jaw open, and stared at us for a bit. At that point I was convinced and decided to make my exit.

We also attempted to make it to the Chinese Gardens that day, but couldn't find the way in. It was a good opportunity to see lots of places being prepared for NYE though. We did make an impromtu decision to book a final day tour for the next day though (NYE) and booked ourselves to go on a trip to the Blue Mountains & Jenolan Caves. NYE was possibly going to be our last day together for a while, so we wanted to do something to end the trip in style.

More on that in my next post!

The Avon Skin So Soft Experiment

We drove to our Christmas destination, Port Douglas, via Cairns for some lunch and eventually arrived in the late afternoon at our Port Douglas YHA. Those of you who saw the pictures I sent round before I went will be pleased to know that they had made the hostel pool look a lot nicer than it was in reality. However, this didn't put me off and I would still recommend this place to everyone. I was extra happy as they upgraded us to an ensuite room with enough space for 4 people. Luxury! It also had its own bar/bistro, the aforementioned swimming pool, as well as various other luxuries. We even had a fridge of our very own. It supposedly had internet, but this was quite rubbish. There was also a TV lounge, but this was consumed by an Aussie watching the cricket for much of our stay. Thankfully we weren't there for the TV or internet, so we got on and did some stuff.

The problem with Port Douglas is that it's nearly as far north as you can get - there's only a couple of other places above it on the East coast. Therefore, the heat was really on here. I would barely be able to move during the day, and at night time the Mozzies etc would come out and eat us. Initially it wasn't too bad for me, and we had our Avon Skin So Soft moisturising spray which we'd been told would help keep them away. Chris was skeptical, as was I. So one night we did an experiment where he applied the stuff and I didn't. Mistake. I guess no bug repellent is 100% effective, and I received several bites to the ankles and lower legs. Whilst Chris maintained his average one or two. Doh!

Because of the heat, our various ailments & the lead up to Christmas, we took it quite easy initially (like much of our holiday really). We wandered around the town and prepared for Christmas. By preparation I mean, we bought some food and attempted to get some Christmas gifts for each other (in each others presence) so that we could make a stocking. We also bought items for our Christmas lunch. The tradition in Australia seems to be ham, but our kitchen had limited supplies so we went for ingredients for a traditional... stir fry!

What was a bit weird about the hostel was that whilst most hostels had their staff living on site, this particular one didn't. After we'd stocked up on our stir fry ingredients, we headed to the bottle shop to get some sneaky tipples (you're not supposed to have them in the hostel as it's a licensed premise, but we figured we'd be ok as the liscensed part was shut over Christmas & there were no staff on site)!

Christmas eve came and went, and then Santa had delivered my stocking (in a Singapore Airline complimentary sock). Amazingly, I hadn't even noticed him come in. My stocking consisted of several chocolates (which I obviously had to eat quickly because of the heat) but sadly neither of us could find any Satsuma's! Chris' stocking was of similar quality & contents with a few less chocolates, a small bottle of beer and a banana (in lieu of the satsuma). Brilliant!

In addition to our stir fry, we'd also bought some sausages for a quick snack before our evening meal. We headed to the kitchen (which we had not visited properly since our arrival) and were horrified to discover that because there were no staff on site, no one had done their washing up properly and there were ants crawling all over the place. I don't have a big problem with ants in general, but Chris does. However, on this day I agreed with him - we had to clean all the kitchen sides before we could even contemplate opening food packets, let alone cooking our sausages.

We headed to the beach afterwards and were amazed by just how many people were there. It was just as you might expect, there were families there having their BBQs and playing various games on the beach. I saw one news report that said some people in Sydney had got to the beach at 2am in the morning to ensure they had reserved enough space for them & their family - now that's commitment! Chris and I took a dip in the stinger net enclosure before heading back to the hostel. If you're not familiar with these, stinger nets are just huge netted off areas of the beach which stop jelly fish getting in so you can swim in the lovely sea without getting stung. We heard a story that when they put these nets up, someone was shocked to discover a crocodile in the netted off area. Apparently the only reason the crocodile didn't attack the girl was because it was too tired after trying to escape the net all night. I'm not sure how true this is, but the idea of it kind of put me off initially! I soon changed my mind though and got in the sea which was soooo warm.

After our ant infestation at the hostel, we decided that maybe we wouldn't do the stir fry after all. We had arranged to meet Su (those of you not from Skandia, she works with me and lives the other side of the roundabout to me in Totton - we thought it would be wrong not to meet up when we were both on the other side of the world at the same time!) so Chris & I convinced her and Amy (her daughter) that they wanted to come out for dinner with us.

Amazingly we found a couple of places open, so we went for a Chinese meal followed by some

desserts at a different venue called Mango Jam. Mango Jam was pretty special as the desserts are a little different to what you might expect. For example, how does a banana pizza grab you?? Sound awful? I thought so too, but apparently it works! Not for me, I stuck with pancakes, but the sweet pizza combination wasn't as awful as I expected which was an odd surprise.

This Christmas was the first one that Chris & I had spent together, and whilst it was nice, it was good to catch up with Su & Amy because I think you need friends or family on Christmas day. I was sad to see a couple of people at our hostel on their own for Christmas. I don't think they spent it with anyone. Maybe they don't celebrate Christmas but it made me realise how grateful I am for friends and family. It also made me realise that perhaps I'm getting a bit more homesick this time round! I was touched when my nephew wished me a 'merry kisstmas' over the phone!

After Christmas, we booked ourselves a trip on the Kuranda scenic railway and another snorkelling expedition, this time to the Great Barrier Reef. Chris and I got to the train early the next morning and went up to Kuranda. This was a lovely quaint journey, with some great scenery around the hills/mountains. It did rain though which was a bit annoying as neither of us had remembered our emergency poncho! Still, it is supposedly the wet season and yet the main rain we'd heard had all been overnight.

Anyhow, in Kuranda, we met with Su & Amy again for lunch, before heading our seperate ways.

Chris and I got the Skyrail back down the mountain which takes you over lots of rainforest and past some waterfalls. I was stunned to see people jumping in and around the pools at the top of these waterfalls (the rain had cleared by then, but they were still very high). Unfortunately the heights that we'd been at all day had done Chris no good at all and his ear infection had returned in the other ear. We therefore had to cancel our snorkelling trip and Chris made himself a Drs appointment instead as we were flying the day after and wanted to make sure he'd be ok.

So our last day in Port Douglas ended up being quite quiet. We went to the beach and then

came home to start packing for our departure the next day. We got as far as cleaning the car, but then we decided to eat a final meal at the hostel's Bistro instead (it was 2-4-1, it would've been rude not to!) and then were met by Su, Amy and their friend Dean for a final drink.

All in all, I really enjoyed my time & Christmas in Port Douglas - thank you Chris, Su & Amy!

Mission Beach

After our time in the Whitsundays, we were nearing the end of our mammouth drive which would take us to Port Douglas for Christmas. We decided to make a stop at Mission Beach on the way through as this seemed a good half way point. I again stopped here with Louisa for a night last time, but it was completely different this time round and we arrived in time to see more stuff. North Queensland is home to the Southern Cassowary. Strange name for a bird that is only found on the North coast of Australia, but it's because they are also found in Papa New Guinea (north of Australia). The guide books say that you've a good chance of seeing one in the wild at Mission Beach.

We drove down a road which was a conservation area for these great birds, and passed several signs telling us there had been recent sightings and crossings. I was sooo excited and was really hopeful we'd see something, but alas, all we saw was some rainforest. Still, it was a lovely drive with some fantastic scenery along the way. I tried to get some pictures as Chris drove and every time I opened the window the temperature in the car would rise considerably. It's no wonder that the British summer is the low season for Queensland - you can't go in the sea up north (because of the jelly fish) without protection (in the form of a stinger suit or a stinger net) and it's just too hot to do very much. I thought starting at the bottom in Melbourne and working our way up to get accustomed to the heat would work, but how wrong I was!

At Mission Beach, the hostel we stayed in seemed friendly enough but I was put off by more cockroaches, so must confess to being quite relieved we only had the one night again. The next day we headed off for our final leg of the journey, Port Douglas.

I'll tell you about that seperately...

Sorry for the delay!

Hi all,

Let me start with an apology to those who actually care about reading this blog. If you're a Facebook reader, you may well have picked up that the internet connection up t'north was pretty rubbish and anytime it was any good I was too busy doing fun stuff. I tried to update it more recently but the website wasn't having it. So I shall now try and attempt to compensate for this by explaining some of my movements since my last post!

After the drama in Agnes Water/1770, we headed to Airlie Beach. This is home of the Whitsundays, another place I visited with Louisa last time but definitely well worth the repeat. Airlie beach is a fair old way from 1770 and as such, we didn't get there until the evening which meant we were on the road at dusk - prime Kangaroo time. Chris did a sterling job of driving us safely to our destination, despite all the other vehicles on the road who seemed to think we were holding them up from wherever they had to be. Thankfully, no animals were harmed (or seen) during the making of our journey.

Our home in Airlie Beach was called Bush Village Backpackers. A hostel that's a little out of the main town, but without bugs so it rated well with me after the last night. We effectively had a cabin to ourselves - basically, you have a room and you share the kitchen & bathroom with one other room that adjoins. It was almost luxury, especially the pool & cold tub. I guess it would usually be a hot tub, but because this is warmer climates, they have no heat in it. In fact, the swimming pool is warmer because it gets heated naturally by the sun daily. It was lovely, maybe one of my favourite places we'd stayed so far.

We booked ourselves a trip on the Whitehaven Express boat which took us to the Whitsunday Islands. The Whitsundays are a cluster of islands which are just as beautiful as I remember. We went to a lookout point where we saw Whitehaven Beach, lots of sting rays, white pristine sand and pure blue water. We also saw our first big spider on the way up to the lookout (I'll let you read Chris' blog for the rest of that story)!

Later we went for lunch on another island (BBQ) where we had the opportunity to swim ashore (in our fetching stinger suits!), which I did and promptly wished I hadn’t as I now realise I can hardly swim at all! After lunch, we lounged around and saw more exciting creatures - Goannas. Giant lizards, very exciting.

Back on the boat we headed to our next destination – snorkelling. On the way we’d seen lots of fish jumping out of the water. The reason? Sharks! I saw a shark but mainly saw all the fish trying to save their lives! We then stopped for snorkelling a few minutes later... I was a little unnerved! The crew on board seemed quite keen on fishing – the skipper had been spear fishing while we were at the lookout, and one of the deck hands, Tony, caught a Scat (I think that was its name) while we were watching the sharks. This thing was huge!

Naturally lots of people wanted pictures, but I was right next to the fish and got freaked out when I saw it was still moving and then its blood flicked everywhere as it flinched in Tony's grip. The fish had sharp spikes down its body (I guess to fight off predators). After the photos, Tony put it back in the bucket dead... or so he thought. It flinched again and knocked the bucket over right by my feet. Naturally I jumped like a girl and squirmed until Tony eventually managed to put it out of my way (under my seat – hardly out of my way!).

After all the drama we eventually got to the snorkelling point where I discovered my fear of the deep sea water has only increased. I’m fine if I’m on a boat, but if I’m on my own directly in the water it’s horrid. I thought I’d regret it if I didn’t give it a go though so I got out and snorkelled for a bit, saw some cute fish and amazing coral, and then got to the point where I decided I had to go back on the boat. As I swam back, there was this huge fish just hanging around outside and I couldn’t go in until it had gone. I then took a little ride on the glass - bottomed boat (the wimp’s way out of snorkelling!) to see more fish, and was really glad I did as I learnt loads.

Apparently, that big fish I was telling you about is the dominant male of a massive area, so he is really colourful to attract the laydeez. He has about 5 wives supposedly (I’m pretty sure that was a bit of ad-hoc make-believe storytelling). However, if he dies, what will happen is that the most dominant female (presumably no. 1 wife) will become a male and take over his role as the dominant one.

In addition, I'm told that Finding Nemo is in fact not an accurate portrayal of how events would really work down on the reef. For the benefit of those who've not seen the film, the brief story goes something like this: Marlon & his wife have lots of baby eggs, but one day a shark comes along and eats all but one of the eggs and Marlon's wife. Marlon is devastated, and brings up the remaining baby, Nemo, on his own. Needless to say, he's very scared of the reef and doesn't let Nemo out of his sight. But as you may've guessed from the title, Nemo decides to go out and explore it on his own anyway because his dad has been so overprotective, and it's down to Marlon to find him. Well, I won't give away any more of the plot, but apparently what would really happen is that Marlon would've become Marlene, and Nemo and 'Marlene' would keep the Marlene/Nemo family going.

Now then, who said my blogs aren't educational 'eh!?

On that note, I'll leave this post ready for the next installment...